| Thursday, March 7, 2024 |
| Life on the farm: Stressors cause health conditions, high rates of death for farmers | |
 | Farmers have to juggle a lot. In addition to often working hard from dawn to dusk to generate the best possible crop, cattle, catfish, chicken or other products, they carry a lot of pressure to be successful. What is particularly difficult is that most of the stressors -- like commodity prices -- are outside of the control of the farmer. In many cases, farm income is decreasing while debt is increasing. According to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, farm owners, managers and workers have some of the highest rates of death due to stress-related diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure and ulcers. And among men, farmers also have the fifth-highest rate of suicide of any profession in the U.S. Extension has adopted the Mental Health First Aid program, developed in Australia and managed by the U.S. National Council for Behavioral Health. There are certified instructors strategically placed throughout Mississippi, and Extension agents are trained to provide this support and assistance to the residents they work with. The ag community is the lifeblood of our state, said Ashli Brown, Ph.D., associate vice president of the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State. Extension's century-long relationship of respect and trust with farmers and farm families makes Extension agents uniquely equipped to provide this assistance, said MSU Extension Health Specialist David R. Buys, Ph.D. |
| Characterizing Lime- and Cement-Treated Soil with the PM Device at a Full-Scale Pavement Test Track | |
 | In this paper, the plastic mold compaction device (PM Device) was used successfully during full-scale construction of lime- and cement-stabilized pavement layers for which strict quality control measures were taken, such as multiple spread rate calibration, frequent moisture contents, and close attention to compaction timing and density measurements. Even with these precautions to minimize variability, there was quantifiable variation in density, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), and elastic modulus () for soil–cement and soil–lime mixtures. ... This paper also serves as the first known and documented use of the PM Device with lime-stabilized material, and is the first known and documented comparison of PM Device specimens and beams compacted with a Proctor hammer. Compared with other field projects in which the PM Device was implemented, the variability of density and UCS in this project was lower than in other typical Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) projects. ... The authors thank MDOT for funding State Studies 276 and 285 at Mississippi State University. |
| More veterinary colleges in line for accreditation evaluations | |
| The AVMA Council on Education (AVMA COE) will have its hands full with 14 scheduled site visits for the remainder of this year. Among them are five consultative site visits to proposed veterinary programs vying for accreditation. Rowan University Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine is scheduled for April 21-26 by the council. AVMA News previously reported that Clemson University's proposed College of Veterinary Medicine and Arkansas State University's proposed College of Veterinary Medicine were seeking accreditation. The AVMA COE recently announced it will conduct consultative site visits to these institutions from May 12-16 and July 7-11, respectively. Three other proposed programs also been scheduled for consultative visits. In addition, a veterinary program in Indiana announced its launch earlier this year. Chamberlain University's proposed School of Veterinary Medicine in Stockbridge, Georgia, will have a consultative visit from the council August 11-15. Dr. Phillip Nelson is the proposed veterinary school's founding dean, according to his LinkedIn page. Dr. Nelson (Tuskegee '79) stepped down in September 2022 as dean of Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) College of Veterinary Medicine after 15 years. Prior to joining the WesternU faculty, Dr. Nelson served as an associate dean at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine from 1994-2005. He also was a professor of academic and public affairs from 2001-05 at MSU. |
| Scholarships will honor late Batesville brothers | |
| Bart and Christy Broome, the parents of the late Dane and Brett Broome of Batesville, have created a lasting memorial to their two sons in the form of an annual scholarship at Mississippi State University. The scholarship is funded by a $50,000 gift from John Cook of Purvis, a Batesville native and lifelong friend of the Broomes. After hearing the Broome family had lost both boys, Cook reached out to the Broomes and together they decided that creating a perpetual scholarship fund at MSU would be a great way to create a lasting memorial. "Bart and Christy are two of the finest people I have ever known," Purvis said. "I wanted to help them create a lasting memorial to their two incredible sons, and to give back to my hometown in some way." The Dane & Brett Broome Memorial Endowed Scholarship and the Memorial Annual Scholarship is administered through the MSU Scholarship Committee. Candidates must be full-time entering freshmen or community college transfers enrolled at Mississippi State University. Preference will be given to candidates who graduated from South Panola High School, North Delta High School or Northwest Mississippi Community College. Preference will be given to residents of Panola County. To apply for this scholarship or to donate funds, contact the MSU Foundation at 662-325-7000 or send an email to info@advservices.msstate.edu. |
| Five counties to participate in Aspire Mississippi 2024 | |
 | The Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) and Mississippi State University's (MSU) Stennis Institute launched the 2024 cohort of Aspire Mississippi. Aspire Mississippi is a statewide program designed to provide skills, knowledge and training to participating communities. Classes have been held since the program's inception in 2016. This year, teams from Copiah, Franklin, Greene, Sunflower and Tippah counties, each led by their respective local economic development organizations, will engage in a team-based development program designed to support local leaders with their efforts to maintain vital projects that will inspire economic and community development. "Aspire Mississippi is a powerful tool that brings local communities together with the technical expertise and support they need to identify, empower and maintain sustainable community and economic development projects. Each new class builds on the success of the last, providing opportunities and resources these teams can leverage for future success," said MDA Executive Director Bill Cork. "MDA is proud to collaborate with Aspire's 2024 participants as they work to meet their goals in the year ahead." |
| 'American Idol' loves Mississippi. Season 22 welcomes teen songwriter from Starkville | |
 | Jennifer Jeffries has been writing songs for most of her life. Her family has always known about her talent and now the rest of the country can watch as she begins her journey on the newest season of "American Idol." "I have videos of you all singing her songs she wrote when she was 9," her mother Sheila said to Jennifer's siblings on a taped interview on the show. Jeffries is the youngest of nine children, she told show host Ryan Seacrest. She said her family has been supportive of her musical talent. "They're like my backbone," she said. The 17-year-old from Starkville wowed the judges with her soft yet hauntingly memorable voice and the powerful message she delivered with her song, "Change My Ways." "I write things so people can connect with them and know they're not alone," Jeffries said. "A lot of things happen in your life -- a lot of pain but a lot of joy -- so I try to capture that." Jeffries' performance follows on the heels of two Mississippi contestants who made it into the Top 5 in 2023 out of thousands of hopefuls nationwide. Colin Stough, who came in third, and Zachariah Smith, who landed in fifth place, come from Amory, a town about 55 miles from Starkville. Others from Mississippi have done well on the singing competition and talent show, including Trent Harmon, also from Amory, who won on Season 15. |
| Mississippi Children's Museum-Meridian celebrates NASA Day | |
 | Explore the final frontier during NASA Day at the Mississippi Children's Museum-Meridian this Saturday, March 9, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the museum located along 22nd Avenue. An annual favorite event of guests, attendees will learn what it is like to go to space and be an astronaut during NASA Day at the museum. Aspiring astronauts will enjoy a day of science fact, science fiction and out-of-this-world science fun. Featured activities during the day-long event will include space shuttle and rocket design, a Q&A station with an aviator, the chance to explore a fire truck form the Air National Guard; a spaceship photo station; a booth by the MSU Advanced Composites Institute; Counting on Katherine: Helping Apollo Return to Earth at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.; and Sun, Moon and Earth Revolution with Paige Anderson at 1 p.m. Anderson was selected as a JPL Solar System Ambassador in 2023. Since then, she has hosted and participated in several events at museums, schools and churches to teach the public about NASA's missions. All activities are included with $10 general admission or museum membership. For additional opportunities to explore STEAM in a fun, hands-on environment, MCM-Meridian is offering Spring Break Camps and Week of Wonder event activities from March 11-15. |
| State revenue collections down in February but remain nearly $92M above estimates for fiscal year | |
| For the second consecutive month, Mississippi revenue collections came in below legislative estimates. However, overall state revenue collections remain nearly $92 million above budget estimates -- down $6 million since January -- with four months left in the current fiscal year. The February 2024 revenue report from the Legislative Budget Office released on Wednesday shows collections were $6,438,216, or 1.46% below the sine die revenue estimate for the month. Yet, year-to-date revenue collections through February 2024 were $91,869,649, or 2.00% above the sine die revenue estimate. The total state budget for the current fiscal year is set at $7,523,800,000. As a result of the 2022 income tax cut package passed by lawmakers and signed into law by Governor Tate Reeves (R), individual income collections have been significantly reduced during the fiscal year. The February 2024 report shows individual income tax collections for the month were below the prior year by $51.3 million. Year-to-date individual income tax collections are $174.1 million below that of the prior year. As for other revenue lines, year-to-date collections of sales tax, use tax, insurance premium tax, alcohol and tobacco tax, and gaming tax were all above the prior year's totals eight months into the fiscal year. As the 2024 legislative session continues, lawmakers will be debating appropriations and budget bills, setting the Fiscal Year 2025 state budget. |
| Mississippi House votes to change school funding formula, but plan faces hurdles in the Senate | |
 | The Mississippi House voted Wednesday to set a new formula to calculate how much money the state will spend on public schools -- a step toward abandoning a formula that has put generations of legislators under political pressure because they have fully funded it only two years since it was put into law in 1997. The proposal is in House Bill 1453, which passed with broad bipartisan support on a vote of 95-13. Work is far from finished. The bill will move to the Senate, which is also controlled by Republicans and has a separate proposal to revise but not abandon the current formula, known as the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. MAEP is designed to give school districts enough money to meet midlevel academic standards. Senators tried to revise it last year, but that effort fell short. The formula proposed by the House is called INSPIRE -- Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education. Republican Rep. Kent McCarty of Hattiesburg said it would create a more equitable way of paying for schools because districts would receive extra money if they have large concentrations of poverty or if they enroll large numbers of students who have special needs or are learning English as a second language. Republican Rep. Rob Roberson of Starkville, the committee chairman, said INSPIRE would put more money into public schools than has ever been spent in Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the U.S. |
| Competing legislation to change Mississippi's education funding model still alive in House, Senate | |
| Two bills that would change the way Mississippi's education funding system operates have survived the legislative deadline for committees to report out general bills. Another bill that could set up a form of public school choice gained some traction on Tuesday. Senate Bill 2332 and House Bill 1453 passed out of committee in their respective chambers before Tuesday's deadline. Both aim to change the way the state's education system is funded. HB 1453, also known as the Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education (INSPIRE) Act of 2024, would create a weighted system supporters believe would better fund the state's K-12 education system. Authored by State Rep. Rob Roberson (R-HD 43), chairman of the House Education Committee, the bill was the first to be submitted this session that tackled what many lawmakers believe to be the antiquated and ineffective Mississippi Adequate Education Program, or MAEP funding formula that was established in 1997. If passed, INSPIRE will replace the current MAEP formula, potentially providing an additional $240 million in education funding and ensuring school districts that need the most funding will receive it, particularly those with a lower ad valorem tax base. That means some districts will see less funding as the hold harmless provisions expire within four years as part of the bill, but districts in most need will see funding increases. In the Senate, SB 2332, authored by Senate Education Committee Chairman State Sen. Dennis DeBar (R-SD 43), keeps the structure of MAEP but adjusts the formula in such a way so as to provide an additional $210 million to the education allocation while providing superintendents and other school district administrators with a clearer financial picture to plan for staffing and other expenses prior to the start of the school year. |
| House passes bill that would change how public schools are funded | |
| For the first time since 1953, Mississippi would not rely on an objective funding formula to determine the amount of money local schools needed under legislation that overwhelmingly passed the House by an 95-13 margin on Wednesday. Under the "Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education" (INSPIRE) Act, a group of eight local superintendents and employees of the state Department of Education would make a recommendation to the Legislature every four years on how much state money should go to local school districts. The INSPIRE Act, if it is agreed to by the Senate, would replace the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. MAEP was passed in 1997 to replace the Minimum Education Program that was passed in the early 1950s as the primary source of state funding for local school districts. Some wealthy districts, such as Rankin and Madison counties, will receive less funding under INSPIRE. Rep. Jill Ford, R-Madison, said she voted for the legislation because she thought it was a better funding formula and that the reduction for her county would be phased in over three years. Plus, she said, Madison is getting the new Amazon Web Services data center that will add to its tax base. "I think we will be all right." she said. |
| Senate passes bill to allow sign language curriculum count toward high school foreign language requirement | |
| Taking sign language could soon count toward a high school student's foreign language graduation requirement. On Wednesday, the Mississippi Senate passed S.B. 2339, which would require the Mississippi Board of Education to develop a curriculum related to sign language, and that taking the course would count toward a student's foreign language requirements. The measure passed by use of the morning roll call. Two Senators voted present. "Some of our schools already offer sign language as an elective. What this bill would do would allow them to develop the curriculum and offer that sign language to take the place of their foreign language credit," said District 32 Sen. Rod Hickman, who presented the bill on the floor. "It is my understanding that Sen. Hill has a teacher in her district who has a curriculum that's developed and accepted as an elective, but the students would like to be able to use that as their foreign language requirement." The bill was authored by Sen. Angela Burks Hill. Hickman presented the measure on her behalf. Sen. Sollie Norwood questioned whether classifying sign language as a foreign language could be offensive to some. "Can you [assure] that a student, that a deaf... student would not be offended by categorizing sign language as a foreign language?" he asked. "This would not be grounds for a parent to challenge the district... if their child is offended or humiliated?" Hickman said he could not guarantee that, but reiterated the bill is not classifying sign language as a foreign language, but only saying students can take it to fulfill a graduation requirement. |
| Campaign finance reform bill gets cold response; lawmakers axe transparency component | |
| Inflamed by lack of investigation or enforcement of what he claimed were flagrant campaign finance violations by his opponent, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann after winning his reelection primary last summer vowed to push for reform. Secretary of State Michael Watson, who said his hands were legally tied on dealing with such complaints, also vowed to push for reform and more authority for his office to police the flow of money into Mississippi politics. On Tuesday the Senate Elections Committee moved forward a bill authored by Elections Chairman Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, one of Hosemann's top lieutenants. The "omnibus" bill would give Watson's office more power, add transparency for voters, increase penalties and fines and allow the secretary of state's office to sidestep the AG's office if it refuses to go after bad actors (which has been the current AG's MO). But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the Senate Elections Committee viewed the measure with a gimlet eye. They immediately axed its main transparency component, and added a "reverse repealer" to it, ensuring it cannot be passed into law as is. Only then did they send it along to the full Senate. Mississippi lawmakers have long been loathe to expose themselves to transparency or strict ethics, lobbying or campaign finance rules and enforcement. The Legislature, for example, exempts itself from the open records and meetings laws it forces on others in government. |
| Mississippi lawmakers moving to crack down on machine gun conversion devices | |
| Legislation advancing in Mississippi -- where lawmakers are typically loathe to introduce new gun restrictions -- would ban most devices used to convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic ones. Under a bill passed by the state Senate on Wednesday, local prosecutors could charge people who possess and manufacture modified machine guns. Conversion devices, which are made with 3D printers and can be bought on the internet, make it so that a legal semi-automatic gun can fire multiple rounds at a rapid clip. The proliferation of these devices has led to deadly crimes, Republican Sen. Scott DeLano said. "These are very deadly devices. They are killing machines," DeLano said. "This is not something a law-abiding citizen would need to have." Lawmakers were moved to introduce the bill after a Mississippi sheriff's deputy was shot and killed during a traffic stop by a suspect who had a modified machine gun. George County Deputy Jeremy Malone died after he stopped a vehicle U.S. 98 in early January. The National Rifle Association, which often lobbies against gun control provisions, helped write portions of the bill because it is "cognizant to this threat to our law enforcement community," DeLano said. |
| Bills to investigate officer misconduct and extend parole eligibility survive legislative deadline | |
| The state's officer training board moved a step closer in the Legislature on Tuesday to gaining the power to investigate law enforcement misconduct. "I am pleased that House Bill 691 and Senate Bill 2286 were both passed out of their committees," said Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell. "These bills call for all law enforcement officers to be required to have continuing education training and the Board of Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training will have the authority to launch its own investigations." If the bill becomes law, Tindell anticipates the Mississippi Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training would hire two or three investigators who would investigate matters and make recommendations. "Ultimately," he said, "it's going to be up to the board." The bill comes in the wake of an investigation by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times into sheriffs and deputies across the state over allegations of sexual abuse, torture and corruption. For the first time, deputies, sheriffs and state law enforcement would join police officers in the requirement to have up to 24 hours of continuing education training. Those who fail to train could lose their certifications. Other changes would take place as well. Each year, the licensing board would have to report on its activities to the Legislature and the governor. |
| Mike Ezell transitioned from law enforcer to lawmaker. How was his first year in office? | |
 | U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Mississippi, spent much of his first year in office meeting with constituents and helping them with their needs in between the many trips to Washington at the behest of the House leaders. Listening to his constituents is one of the duties Ezell committed to early in his bid for office in 2022, when he ousted incumbent Steven Palazzo, who was often criticized for not making the rounds of his district, earning the nickname "No-show Palazzo." "Mike is committed to showing up, speaking up and standing up for our conservative South Mississippi values," his campaign website says. The freshman congressman from Pascagoula sat down with the Hattiesburg American recently to talk about his first year in office. Ezell serves on the Homeland Security and Transportation and Infrastructure committees in the House, two committees he feels are beneficial to Mississippi since they have oversight of roads, bridges, airports and other big projects at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Keesler Air Force Base and more. "It is extremely busy," Ezell said of his average work day. "I'm up there whenever the schedule calls for it. I am out the door very early every morning. I serve on my committees. I meet the people that come to Washington, whether for pleasure or business." |
| Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith announces she will seek reelection in 2026 | |
| Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith announced Thursday that she will seek reelection ahead of her first full term ending in January 2027. During an appearance on The Gallo Show, the Republican from Mississippi made it clear that any rumors of her not running again are false and she fully intends to keep her seat in the U.S. Senate. "Oh, I am definitely planning on running again. You know, you hear those rumors, and I think people who are interested in this seat are probably starting those rumors. But that's just what it is -- it's just rumors," Hyde-Smith said. "I will be campaigning next year." While Hyde-Smith's chamber counterpart, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, is up for reelection this year along with all four of the state's congressional seats on top of the presidential primary, the former agriculture commissioner is already asking people to not only go vote this year but plan to return to the polls in two years when she's up for reelection. "Roger is up now, and I truly want to emphasize the importance of getting out to vote come March 12. When there's a presidential election on the vote, it's just a higher turnout. So, when I'm up, that's not going to be the case," Hyde-Smith said, adding that she anticipates another endorsement from the former president and once again GOP candidate, Donald Trump. And I hope that I'll have President Donald Trump helping me campaign and that he will become president." |
| First batch of final spending bills passes House | |
 | The House overwhelmingly voted to pass a six-bill, $467.5 billion final fiscal 2024 appropriations package Wednesday, a long-awaited step forward in a lengthy process that is just now beginning to come to a close nearly six months after the fiscal year began. The vote, which required two-thirds support under suspension of the rules, was 339-85 to send the package to the Senate. Speaker Mike Johnson won a majority of votes from his conference, despite opposition from his party's right flank, with 132 Republicans voting in favor and 83 in opposition to the measure. The Senate now has to clear the bill ahead of the midnight Friday deadline for four of the six appropriations measures included in the combo. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would put the bill on the floor immediately after House passage with the goal to pass it "with time to spare" before the deadline to head off a partial government shutdown this weekend. The package includes the Military Construction-VA measure, which is the underlying vehicle, as well as the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Interior-Environment and Transportation-HUD bills. "We only control half of one-third of the federal government, so we have to be realistic about what we are able to achieve," Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday. "But in spite of that, we have an appropriations package that is going to cut non-defense, non-VA discretionary spending." The Agriculture bill remains flat under the legislation. |
| Senate GOP braces for long battle to succeed McConnell | |
 | The race to succeed Mitch McConnell atop the Senate GOP could last for months without a clear winner, thanks to one big wildcard: Election Day. Although Republicans are optimistic about their chances of winning the Senate in November, they still don't know which candidates might deliver them the majority, or even how big that majority could be. Not to mention if Donald Trump wins back the presidency, his preference is bound to prove a critical factor in the leadership battle -- if he loses, on the other hand, the GOP may look for a clean break from Trump's pick. That unavoidable uncertainty makes it tougher for Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and John Thune (R-S.D.), as well as any other potential candidates for leader, to lock up support -- potentially trapping GOP senators without a clear heir to McConnell until Election Day. And plenty of Republicans aren't in a rush to choose. "These kinds of things don't happen all of the time. We've got a chance to take the majority back, I think we will. President Trump could very well be our president, so I think it's a unique time to get it right," said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.). Trump's performance in November could weigh heavily on whether GOP senators are looking for someone who can lead the fractious party alongside the presumptive Republican nominee or, alternatively, go toe-to-toe with President Joe Biden for four more years. Plus, Trump's victory would boost the prospects for a third candidate in the race. |
| Biden is hoping to use his State of the Union address to show a wary electorate he's up to the job | |
| President Joe Biden is set to use his State of the Union address Thursday to promote his vision for a second term to a dispirited electorate who questions whether he's up to the job and to warn that GOP front-runner Donald Trump would be a dangerous alternative. Biden's third such address from the House rostrum will be something of an on-the-job interview, as the nation's oldest president tries to quell voter concerns about his age and job performance while sharpening the contrast with his all-but-certain 2024 rival. The president hopes to showcase his accomplishments on infrastructure and manufacturing, as well as push for action on aid to Ukraine, tougher migration rules, restoring access to abortion, and lowering drug prices, among other issues. But as he does so, the 81-year-old president will be closely watched not just for his message but for whether he can deliver it with vigor and command. Biden spent last weekend working on the speech in the seclusion of the Camp David presidential retreat with his closest aides and presidential historian Jon Meacham. The president will be speaking before a historically ineffective Congress. In the GOP-led House, Speaker Mike Johnson took power five months ago after the chaotic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Legislators are still struggling to approve funding bills for the current year and have been deadlocked for months on foreign assistance bills to help Ukraine stave off Russia's invasion and support Israel's fight against Hamas. |
| Why Sen. Katie Britt Is Giving Republicans' State of the Union Response | |
 | Freshman Sen. Katie Britt, tapped to give the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address, won't have to utter a single word to draw a clear contrast on Thursday night. In Britt, party leaders chose a 42-year-old with a solidly conservative voting record whose name has been bandied about as a possible vice-presidential pick for GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. She will speak right after Biden, who is 81 and trying to tamp down voters' concerns about his age. "The American people will tune in as the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Senate turns the page on the oldest president in history," House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) said in a joint statement with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) announcing Britt's selection. While Biden has been under the microscope over his fitness, Republicans face new challenges related to reproductive rights. A court ruling in Britt's home state of Alabama put in vitro fertilization treatments in peril, prompting GOP lawmakers to scramble to reassure voters that the procedures -- in contrast to abortion -- had the full support of the party. Britt, the mother of two children, could help try to sell that message. Britt is no bomb-thrower and has fans across the political aisle. She is particularly close with Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.), who met Britt and her husband, a former professional football player, during orientation for senators elected in 2022. Britt offered to walk Fetterman to votes last year when he was in the middle of a difficult recovery from a stroke. She sent him doughnuts at the hospital when he checked himself in for treatment for depression, a senior aide said at the time. "I love her," said Fetterman. |
| The White House Is Briefing Dozens of Online Creators on Biden's State of the Union Address | |
 | Dozens of digital creators are being briefed on President Joe Biden's State of the Union address ahead of his Thursday speech, the administration has confirmed to WIRED. Around 70 creators, digital publishers, and influencers are set to meet with the administration to amplify the White House's message across social media. Some were briefed on Wednesday, but more are expected to attend events on Thursday. The creators have a combined audience of more than 100 million followers across platforms. The administration is hoping to tap that large digital audience to reach voters who may not tune in to Thursday's speech. Topics like student debt relief and the president's economic agenda were discussed with creators on Wednesday, Johnny Palmadessa, a creator and Democratic digital strategist in attendance, told WIRED. Other influencers, like Keith Edwards and @emilyinyourphone, were also included in Wednesday's briefing. "The event provided a valuable chance to meet the digital leaders who have been active on various platforms over the past four years," Palmadessa said. "Meeting other activists, strategists, and influencers in person was inspiring." Over the past few years, the White House has made a concerted effort to build relationships with popular influencers across platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The Biden reelection campaign is also beefing up its digital operation. In January, the campaign joined TikTok for the first time, sidestepping criticism that the platform could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans. |
| Trump RNC 'purge' has some committee members nervous about party footing his legal bills | |
 | Former President Donald Trump's impending takeover of the Republican National Committee could give him access to a big new pile of cash at a time when he is beset by legal bills, making some committee members nervous. Limiting Trump's access to the RNC's coffers is a touchy subject, and an effort to pressure his team on spending restrictions failed. But it serves as another example of the pockets of Trump resistance that persist within the GOP. Trump pushed RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to resign from the job after seven years, and wants his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and another loyalist, North Carolina Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley, to serve as co-chairs. Top Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita would be chief operating officer. RNC members are meeting in Houston on Friday to consider the leadership change. It's not uncommon for the RNC to be tightly integrated with the campaign of the Republican presidential nominee, a title Trump clinched after Nikki Haley dropped out of the race Wednesday. But there are some unusual aspects of Trump's campaign that continue to worry some Republicans. A top concern is Trump's mounting legal bills, and whether he could try and get the party to pay for them. Some committee members supported a failed resolution that aimed at prohibiting the RNC from picking up Trump's legal tab. The overhaul of RNC leadership also has critics. Many Trump supporters are cheering on his RNC takeover. |
| Amid record high energy demand, America is running out of electricity | |
 | Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation's creaking power grid. In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades. Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma. The soaring demand is touching off a scramble to try to squeeze more juice out of an aging power grid while pushing commercial customers to go to extraordinary lengths to lock down energy sources, such as building their own power plants. A major factor behind the skyrocketing demand is the rapid innovation in artificial intelligence, which is driving the construction of large warehouses of computing infrastructure that require exponentially more power than traditional data centers. AI is also part of a huge scale-up of cloud computing. Tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are scouring the nation for sites for new data centers, and many lesser-known firms are also on the hunt. |
| Southern Baptists Say Justice Dept. Has Closed Abuse Inquiry Into Leadership Body | |
 | A Southern Baptist Convention leader said on Wednesday that the Justice Department had concluded a sexual abuse investigation into the organization's executive committee without issuing any charges. The statement from Jonathan Howe, the executive committee's interim president and chief executive, referred only to the closing of an investigation into the executive committee, and did not address additional Justice Department investigations into other Southern Baptist entities. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Nicholas Biase, declined to comment. Federal investigators opened the inquiry into the denomination's handling of sexual abuse in 2022, after Baptists commissioned a third-party investigation that found national leaders in the country's largest Protestant denomination had suppressed reports of abuse and resisted reform efforts for decades. The report prompted widespread outrage from Baptist churchgoers, and energized activists pushing the denomination for greater transparency. The S.B.C.'s executive committee, a group of 86 people who steer the denomination, said it was informed last week that the U.S. Attorney's office had concluded its investigation "with no further action to be taken," Mr. Howe said in the statement. "While we are grateful for closure on this particular matter, we recognize that sexual abuse reform efforts must continue to be implemented across the convention," he said. |
| Officials raise alarm on what W merger could mean long-term | |
 | Keith Gaskin is still waiting for state Sen. Dennis DeBar to return his calls. In the meantime, the Columbus mayor said citizens concerned about the future of Mississippi University for Women should be "up in arms" and "demanding transparency" from the Senate Education Committee chair. DeBar, R-Leakesville, authored a bill last month that would relocate the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science to Mississippi State University. On Tuesday, the deadline for bills to clear their committees, he offered a substitution bill to transfer control of MUW to MSU and rename the Columbus campus "The W at Mississippi State University." Add Gaskin to the growing list of stakeholders who didn't see DeBar's substitute bill coming. MUW President Nora Miller told The Dispatch on Tuesday she had no warning, and a prepared statement from MSU President Mark Keenum said he only learned of the change Tuesday morning. Keenum's statement also said MSU leaders had not proposed or initiated the bill, adding, "our leadership team has many questions and concerns that must be explored." The state Institutions of Higher Learning, which oversee Mississippi's eight public universities, didn't get much of a heads-up either, Director of Communications John Sewell told The Dispatch on Wednesday. What's more, he said, IHL doesn't back the legislation. "We are committed to supporting eight universities," Sewell said. "We've not been involved in any conversations around it or any background studies in relation to the language of the bill. ... Right now, our position is just to watch the legislation and work with lawmakers (so they) understand the value of having eight public universities." |
| MSMS seniors guaranteed full scholarships at the U. of Southern Mississippi | |
 | Here's some definitively positive news for MSMS. Every Mississippi School of Mathematics and Science senior is guaranteed a four-year scholarship if they attend the University of Southern Mississippi. President of Southern Miss, Joseph Paul, made the announcement Wednesday on MSMS' campus. Paul believes this is a long-term investment for the state and the workforce, "We know that these students are Mississippi's best and brightest. They've learned how to do college because they live here. They've been taught by elite faculty. Without application or competitive scholarships, we know that we want to invest in them and educate them well in Mississippi and hopefully, some of them will stay. So, we're proud to be here." Each four-year scholarship is estimated at a total value of $38,000. |
| MSMS students receive full-tuition scholarships to USM | |
| Students at The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS) have been provided a unique pathway to fulfill their college dreams through a tuition scholarship partnership between the school and The University of Southern Mississippi (USM). Officials from both schools announced the agreement during a ceremony held Wednesday, March 6 at the MSMS campus in Columbus. The announcement included presentation of tuition scholarship certificates to all 106 seniors at MSMS. Students who graduate in May will receive an eight-semester award for full tuition to USM, with the requirement that they enroll for the fall 2024 semester. "Having this new partnership with The University of Southern Mississippi is incredibly significant for us," said MSMS Interim Director Ginger Tedder. "We deeply appreciate USM's full-tuition scholarship offer for the Class of 2024. This will not only provide valuable financial support for our students but also help to address the brain drain in Mississippi by encouraging our talented students to stay in the state for higher education." |
| MSMS seniors awarded full-tuition scholarships to USM | |
| The University of Southern Mississippi President Joseph Paul awarded each senior at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science a full-tuition, four-year scholarship to the university during a special assembly Wednesday at Nissan Auditorium. Paul, who once taught leadership seminars at MSMS, said awarding the scholarships, valuing nearly $40,000 each, was an easy decision. "As a public university in Mississippi, the USM wants to invest in Mississippi kids, and the best and the brightest are here at the Mississippi School for Math and Science," he said. Paul congratulated the students on having the "courage, conviction and maturity" it takes to leave their homes and local schools to attend the residential high school. He said the combination of living away from home and handling a rigorous course load has already prepared the students as they plan for college. After the assembly, each student received a certificate for the full tuition scholarship. Paul told the seniors they would only need to apply to the university and be admitted to receive the award. |
| Amid Louisiana's crawfish shortage, governor issues disaster declaration | |
| Amid a crawfish shortage in Louisiana, the nation's top producer of the crustaceans that are a staple in Gulf Coast seafood boils, Gov. Jeff Landry issued a disaster declaration for the impacted industry Wednesday. Last year's drought, extreme heat, saltwater intrusion on the Mississippi River and a hard winter freeze in the Bayou State have devastated this year's crawfish harvest and led to significant price hikes for those purchasing "mudbugs." Landry says the shortage is not only affecting Louisiana's economy but also "our way of life." Landry's disaster declaration, which is the legal underpinning that assists in securing federal resources, comes shortly after a request from Louisiana's congressional delegation seeking to unlock federal aid to help farmers back in their home state. During a typical year, Louisiana generates anywhere from 175 million to 200 million pounds of crawfish -- contributing $500 million to the state's economy annually, according to the governor's office. However, amid severe drought in 2023 and extreme heat, typically one of the wettest states in the country saw some of its driest conditions. As a result, the weather dried out the soil where crawfish burrow to lay eggs. The Louisiana State University's Agriculture Center estimates the potential losses to the state's crawfish industry to be nearly $140 million. |
| Alabama college students rally against anti-DEI bill: 'We won't stand for it' | |
 | Dozens of college students walked the halls of Alabama's state house Wednesday, hoping to persuade lawmakers to halt a bill that would prohibit diversity and inclusion efforts on their campuses. "They want to bring back Jim Crow," organizer Sean Atchison, a University of Alabama senior, said at a rally outside the building on Wednesday afternoon. "They are determined to put us back in the 60s, and we won't stand for it." SB129, authored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, would prohibit government institutions, including state agencies, public schools and colleges, from funding a diversity, equity and inclusion office and from sponsoring DEI programs or any program that "advocates for a divisive concept." It also would prohibit higher education institutions from allowing individuals to use a restroom that is different from their sex as assigned at birth. The bill passed in the Alabama Senate on Feb. 22 and moved through a committee in the House Tuesday morning. The legislation now awaits a vote on the House floor -- a final step before it lands on the governor's desk to sign into law. |
| Feds expected to show at hearing gang connections to brother of UGA murder suspect | |
 | Federal authorities are expected to show evidence at a bond hearing Thursday for Diego Ibarra that he may be affiliated with the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Ibarra, 29, is the brother of Jose Antonio Ibarra, the 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Venezuela charged with the murder of nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22. Diego Ibarra is charged with possessing a fake green card and is scheduled for a bond hearing on Thursday morning before a U.S. Magistrate Court judge in Macon. Both brothers were arrested the day after Riley's slaying. Diego Ibarra was not linked to the slaying. In a motion filed Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Morrison cited reasons for Ibarra to remain in federal custody prior to his trial on the fraud charge, which carries up to 10 years in prison. While the motion cited his unlawful entry into the U.S., and his arrests in Athens, the document also goes into detail about the suspect's possible affiliation with a gang that has had violent confrontations with law enforcement in New York and has members in Texas, Illinois, Florida and Georgia. The gang originated in a prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua, according to the federal paper. One fact that linked Ibarra to the gang are tattoos found on the suspect's face and neck and photos that show him displaying known gang hand signals. The gang frequently wears Chicago Bulls attire and agents located photographs of him wearing such clothing. |
| Residence hall construction marks U. of Tennessee's 'historic' new way of building | |
 | The University of Tennessee at Knoxville marked a new era of construction on campus when it broke ground on two residence halls March 6. The dorms fill a need for more beds, thanks to record-breaking enrollment. They also mark the start of UT's use of public-private partnerships to speed up construction on campus and shield the university from risk. The two dorms, slated to open by fall 2025, are part of at least $1.63 billion of construction in the works on campus. UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman said the "historic" partnership paves the way to build new communities on campus that help students thrive while earning degrees. "In case you haven't heard, everyone in the country wants to come to school here," Plowman said. "And we're proud of that and we're excited about it. And just to be a little bit more specific, we had 59,000 applications this year for 6,900 spots." UT's public-private partnership with project owner, Provident Resources Group, and developer, RISE, is the first of its kind in Tennessee. Provident Resources Group takes on much of the immense cost to build the residence halls, and RISE handles development, construction oversight, property management and facility maintenance. UT plans to use the public-private agreement with the same partners to build a third residence hall at Lake Loudoun Boulevard by fall 2026. The UT Board of Trustees approved the project at its March 1 meeting, but it needs state approval before construction can begin. The three residence halls will cost an estimated $371.95 million. |
| A&M AgriLife helping set up supply points amid Panhandle wildfire | |
 | Four supply points across the northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle are set up to take in donated agricultural commodities and give them away to producers affected by the wildfires that started on Feb. 26. Over 25 members of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service's Disaster Assessment & Recovery Unit (DAR) and Extension county agents are stationed in the Panhandle towns of Borger, Canadian, Miami and Pampa working up to 11-hour days to get supplies to the producers in need. Right now, AgriLife Extension officials are focused on securing certain supplies to give to producers, such as hay, feed, fence supplies, cow feed, wildlife feed and salt blocks. "What we're trying to do is supply producers enough grain and hay to get through about four days and as we get more restocked up, they can come back and get another four-day supply," said Richie Griffin, DAR's east region chief who is stationed in Pampa. Truckloads of hay and other supplies are coming in from far and wide, including Bryan-College Station as one AgriLife Extension official said there were feed sacks from Producers Cooperative in Bryan that went through the supply point in Pampa. These supply points were set up on Feb. 28 and have been up and running since. "We've had donations from Utah, Indiana," Griffin said. "It's been a wealth of blessing of donations from not only in-state, but out-of-state as well." |
| Soft skills lead to faster promotions, LinkedIn data shows | |
| Workers with soft skills -- such as problem-solving, decision-making and good communication abilities -- get promoted faster than those who don't have the skills, according to a Feb. 29 report from LinkedIn. Based on LinkedIn data for 2020-2023, full-time employees who had both hard and soft skills on their profiles were promoted 8% faster than those who only had hard skills. "It's a testament to the concrete impact of so-called soft skills: Even if you can't easily measure the skill itself, they still make a measurable difference," co-authors Greg Lewis and Manas Mohapatra wrote in the report. "For talent professionals, that's a good reminder that these soft skills should be a serious part of your hiring criteria," they wrote. "It's also a call to action for companies to help employees develop these particular skills." Certain soft skills had an even stronger link to promotion, according to the report. For instance, organizational skills, teamwork, problem-solving and communication had the strongest connections to faster promotions, leading workers to be promoted 11% faster. After that, leadership led to 10% faster promotions. Updating skills regularly appeared to lead to faster promotions as well. Workers who added skills on a quarterly basis were promoted 11% faster than those who added skills infrequently, or less than once per year. |
| Is journalism disappearing? These top educators have a lot to say about that | |
 | As I left my meeting with the head of the journalism department, my fingers were frozen together, a physical phenomenon that happens in times of great stress or happiness. I had just been offered a chance to redesign a course called Media Management and Entrepreneurship, a class that hadn't been taught at the University of Kentucky in roughly seven years. Over the following weeks, I jotted down the names of guest speakers I planned to have (Owen Thomas, Drew Curtis and Gabriel Dunn would visit) and the themes I wanted to address. There were three companies I knew I had to expose my students to each semester: Gawker, BuzzFeed News and Vice. These were disruptive startups who, a decade ago, thumbed their noses at naysayers and raised the middle finger to hidebound news organizations. These three companies appealed to a coveted younger, internet-obsessed, audience that has long eluded legacy media businesses. Not to mention, all three had habits of hiring young and diverse people. It was 2014 and I ended each class discussion on these three companies with a link to their job boards showing dozens of open positions at each. Today, those same hyperlinks from Gawker, BuzzFeed News and Vice are broken, empty, or filled with a small fraction of the open news positions they once had. Almost every week in 2024 has featured news of media layoffs (more than 800 so far by one count, which would place the sector on pace for 10,000 jobs lost this year, according to Fast Company) and left many professionals penning eulogies for the news industry while asking hard questions. |
| Anonymous campus app Sidechat has a hate speech problem, critics say | |
| College students love social media. But one app especially strikes their fancy. It's called Sidechat and it lets them gossip anonymously about all the latest campus drama. All they have to do is fork over their school email address. Colleges, on the other hand, don't love Sidechat so much. And members of Congress are increasingly alarmed by its content. A sort of virtual quad where college students across the country sound off on just about everything, Sidechat has played a central role in the House education committee's ongoing probes into antisemitism at a handful of schools, including the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University in New York City. Last month, when the committee slapped Harvard with a subpoena -- the first time the legislative body has issued such a demand to a university -- Sidechat played a big role in that request. Lawmakers ordered the college to round up antisemitic posts on the social media platform. Administrators at Harvard and leaders at the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish anti-hate organization, sat down separately with the executives from Sidechat in recent months, urging the company to crack down on hateful content as college campuses nationwide devolved into turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war. The controversy shines a spotlight on the influential platform, which has largely tried to evade scrutiny since its launch about two years ago. The app's role in allowing users to whip up hate on college campuses, largely without significant consequences for the instigators, has forced some school administrators to take a more hands-on approach than they're used to in policing its usage. |
| Campus Engagement Tip: Reaching Students on Social Media | |
 | Social media remains a popular engagement tool for college students to interact with one another, so how can colleges and universities reach their students where they are online? During a workshop session at the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Annual Conference in Seattle, faculty and staff from colleges and universities around the country shared different techniques they use to validate the student experience. A December 2023 report from the Pew Research Center found YouTube is the most popular social media platform for 13- to 17-year-olds, with 93 percent using it. Sixty-three percent of teens are on TikTok, 60 percent are on Snapchat and 59 percent are on Instagram. Across the board, students want to see photos of themselves and their peers. Across campuses, practitioners said their posts with the highest engagement are those that highlight learners because students like, comment and share those posts among their peers. These could include event photos or student submissions. Students often don't read long emails, but they may watch a 60-second video. Short-form video content is also boosted in the Instagram algorithm, making that preferred by the user and the platform over other types of posts. At Wake Forest University, student leaders will go live on Instagram to share information and answer questions of their peers. |
| Higher ed expands in prisons as students prepare for life on the outside | |
| Access to higher education is expanding in prisons across the country as colleges and universities seek approval from government agencies to start degree programs after financial aid for incarcerated students was fully reinstated under Federal Pell Grants. Most of the roughly 600,000 people released from U.S. prisons each year are leaving without having taken any college classes, despite evidence that higher education keeps people from reoffending, helps them find jobs post-release and makes prisons safer. New programs are expected in most U.S. states. For Amber Galvan, her college courses in a Texas prison helped her navigate her job search post-release by preparing her for a career in logistics. Looking for a job "takes practice and a lot of rejection for somebody like me, who has a background," Galvan said. She recently started a logistics role working with airplane parts in the Houston area. It's a tight spot to be in as Galvan restarts her life after a year and a half in prison for a domestic violence-related charge. In the process, she lost her marriage, contact with her kids and most of her personal belongings. But Galvan is managing her bills on her own now -- and she has new tools in her arsenal: a high school equivalency diploma and college classes in business management and logistics. She did this while incarcerated, studying through a program with Lee College, which teaches roughly 1,200 incarcerated students each semester. |
| Colleges, Education Department at Odds Over Inclusive Access Changes | |
| After three rounds of talks, a rule-making advisory committee on Wednesday failed to reach agreement on an Education Department proposal that would prevent colleges from automatically billing students for books and supplies. The proposal, which colleges and universities say would undermine their efforts to provide students with affordable course materials on the first day of class, became one of the most contentious issues in this round of negotiated rule making -- a lengthy process that the Education Department must go through before making certain regulatory changes. The current rules helped to spur growth in a procurement model for mostly digital textbooks and course materials known as inclusive or equitable access. Under the model, unless students opt out, they receive all required course materials, which are offered for sale at below-market rates through deals struck between institutions, publishers and campus bookstores, and they pay for them as part of their tuition. Under the department's proposal, students would have to opt in before colleges and universities can charge them. Publishers, college and university leaders, and negotiators representing institutions have argued that shifting the access models to opt-in would effectively end inclusive access programs, because the pricing relies on the participation of a large bulk of students. |
| Sal Khan Has Big Dreams for AI in Education. Are They Too Big? | |
| A small study published 40 years ago set off shock waves in education circles for decades with claims that the right kind of tutoring vaults middling students to the top of the class. Ever since, a number of educators and tech leaders, inspired by the findings, have been chasing these dramatic gains. The latest to take up this cause is Sal Khan, perhaps the country's leading evangelist for the potential of artificial intelligence in education and whose nonprofit has developed an AI chatbot. Last year Khan opened a widely viewed TED Talk by describing the remarkable results from the 1984 study. AI could serve as a personal tutor that might eventually be able to "take your average student and turn them into an exceptional student," he said. Other AI enthusiasts have cited the same research -- a sign of the heady hopes that the technology could bring an educational breakthrough. But it isn't clear whether these ambitions are realistic. The 1984 results are outliers, according to a paper published Thursday by Education Next, a policy journal affiliated with Harvard University. The small-scale experiments were based on two subjects -- probability and cartography -- that students had little familiarity with, which made their rapid learning improvements more feasible, the paper noted. Modern studies of human tutoring haven't typically shown gains nearly as large. |
SPORTS
| No. 8 Seed Mississippi State Opens SEC Tournament With No. 9 Texas A&M | |
| No. 8 seed Mississippi State women's basketball opens postseason play on Thursday when it faces No. 9 seed Texas A&M in the Second Round of the 2024 SEC Tournament inside Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. at 11:00 a.m. CT. Fans who are not in attendance can follow action on SEC Network with Christy Thomaskutty and Eric Frede on the call or through their Mississippi State radio station with Jason Crowder. Mississippi State leads its series with Texas A&M 12-6 overall and 2-1 in neutral site contests -- all of the neutral site contests have come in the SEC Tournament since 2017. Mississippi State defeated Texas A&M inside Reed Arena earlier in the season on Feb. 4, 74-63, for its third win in a six-day stretch. Mississippi State is 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the SEC Tournament against Texas A&M under head coach Sam Purcell. No. 13 seed Texas A&M spoiled Purcell's SEC Tournament debut last season when it defeated No. 5 seed Mississippi State, 79-72, in the Second Round. The winner of Thursday's matchup will face No. 1 seed South Carolina |
| Mississippi State women's basketball live score updates vs. Texas A&M in SEC Tournament | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball opens its SEC Tournament as the conference's No. 8-seed slated to face No. 9-seeded Texas A&M on Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina. The matchup is a rematch of Feb. 4 contest that the Bulldogs won 74-63. That victory was the fourth in a five-game winning streak for Mississippi State. However, the Bulldogs lost five of six games to close the regular season. Amid those struggles, MSU dropped from second place in the conference to eighth. However, Mississippi State ended the regular season with a home win against Missouri on Sunday. Mississippi State was led by forward Erynn Barnum in the win against the Aggies as she paced all scorers with 22 points. Darrione Rogers added another 18 points off the bench. Guard Endyia Rogers had 17 points for Texas A&M. However, she hasn't played since suffering a knee injury on Feb. 11. All SEC Tournament games are played at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. |
| Texas A&M women's basketball team looks to repeat last year's SEC tourney success | |
| The Texas A&M women's basketball team surprised many at the Southeastern Conference Tournament last year by winning two games. If the Aggies repeat that this year, they'll shock the country. Ninth-seeded A&M (18-11, 6-10) will play eighth-seeded Mississippi State (21-10, 8-8) at 10 a.m. Thursday in the SEC tourney's second round at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. The winner will advance in the single-elimination tourney to play top-ranked South Carolina (29-0, 16-0), which just capped off rare back-to-back unbeaten regular seasons. A&M is the first team out in ESPN.com's Charlie Crème's mock 68-team tourney bracket, while Mississippi State is among his last four in along with Washington State, Vanderbilt and Green Bay. A&M is 45th in the NCAA Women's Basketball NET Rankings, one spot ahead of Mississippi State, which defeated A&M 74-63 during the regular season. A year ago, A&M beat Vanderbilt and Mississippi State at the SEC tournament to become the first 13th seed to reach the quarterfinals. Both teams had beaten the Aggies in the regular season. "I think that's what our team had in its back pocket last year," A&M coach Joni Taylor said. "They were a little bit excited to go after them a second time, because we lost the first time around." A&M sophomore forward Janiah Barker said the team had a "revenge type of mentality." That's worked against A&M so far this season as Auburn and Tennessee both beat the Aggies in the second half of league play after A&M had won the first meetings. |
| Taking a closer look at Mississippi State softball's hot start to 2024 season | |
| Samantha Ricketts and her players have repeated the line to the point where it has almost lost its meaning: "Prove ourselves right." It hasn't taken long for Mississippi State to change the outside perception of what these 2024 Bulldogs are and can be. After being the only Southeastern Conference team left out of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, MSU was picked to finished last this season by the conference's head coaches, but heading into their first SEC series this weekend at rival Ole Miss, the Bulldogs are 17-3, ranked in every national poll and have four ranked wins under their belts. MSU has started strong before in non-conference play under Ricketts -- in her first year as head coach in 2020, the Bulldogs were 25-3 before the season was abruptly halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, MSU grabbed early wins over Arizona and South Florida that looked good at the time, but lost some of their luster as the Wildcats and Bulls struggled later in the season. Determined to make a return to the postseason, Ricketts added three impact transfers to join a freshman class ranked 10th nationally by Extra Inning Softball, and as the Bulldogs transition into SEC play, it's been returners and newcomers alike lifting them back into the national conversation. |
| Lopez Ramirez Finishes Co-Champion at Darius Rucker Intercollegiate | |
| Julia Lopez Ramirez put together a record day to finish co-champion at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. She finished the tournament five-under after the third round. Lopez Ramirez opened the day at two-over par, after finishing the second round in a tie for 24th. Starting her day on the back nine, Lopez Ramirez birdied three of her first five holes. After a bogey on 15, Julia finished the final 12 holes with no blemishes on her card, as she would card five birdies and seven pars. Lopez Ramirez's seven-under round on day three set a record for the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, as it was the lowest 18-hole score in the history of the tournament. She also tied her own record for third-lowest round in program history, which trails her records of second lowest and lowest rounds. The Darius Rucker Intercollegiate victory marked the seventh time in her career that Lopez Ramriez earned a win. This now sets her in sole possession for most individual wins in the history of Mississippi State women's golf. The Bulldogs will be back in action for the final time in the regular season when they travel to Aiken, South Carolina for the Old Barnwell Match Play. The tournament is set to begin on March 25. |
| Lopez Ramirez finishes tied for first on final day of Darius Rucker Intercollegiate | |
| What a final round it was for Mississippi State women's golf junior Julia Lopez Ramirez at the Darius Rucker Invitational in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Coming into the day having shot 2-over after 36 holes of play, Lopez Ramirez put together the best single round of any golfer out of the 17-team field, shooting a 7-under 64 to finish with a 54-hole total of 5-under. Her fantastic round put her tied for first individually as Mississippi State went on a run in the final day of play, finishing 11th at 14-over par. Despite shooting 19-over par in the second round, the Bulldogs regrouped and finished just two strokes out of a sixth place finish at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head. Mississippi State got as high as tied for eighth place over Wednesday's action, but was still able to shoot 4-over as a team, a strong finish in a field packed with talent. Nine Southeastern Conference teams participated in the Intercollegiate, with the Bulldogs placing sixth out of those nine teams. |
| Unpacking Mississippi State basketball's March Madness résumé after Texas A&M loss | |
| There was a time in college basketball when 20 wins was enough to make a strong case for an NCAA Tournament bid. That was an era before NET rankings, wins ranked by quadrants, strength of schedule, KenPom, and Torvik existed -- among other components in a seemingly endless list of metrics. Thanks to those various components, Mississippi State basketball would likely find itself on the right side of the March Madness picture if the tournament started today, even after Wednesday's 75-69 loss at Texas A&M. Unfortunately for coach Chris Jans and the Bulldogs, Selection Sunday isn't until March 17. So where does that put Mississippi State (19-11, 8-9 SEC) entering Saturday's regular-season finale against South Carolina? Better territory than last season. MSU was listed among the last four teams to qualify for the NCAA Tournament field of 68 in 2023, sending the Bulldogs to the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Those Bulldogs had a NET ranking barely inside the top 50 despite going 20-11 in the regular season. Barring a collapse or an ugly loss to a lowly opponent in the SEC tournament next week in Nashville, Mississippi State should enter Selection Sunday inside the top 40 of this season's NET. |
| Senior Rosealee Cooper set to compete in NCAA indoor championships | |
| Mississippi State senior track and field athlete Rosealee Cooper returns to the NCAA indoor track and field championships for the fourth consecutive year later this week, competing in the 60-meter hurdles. This is her third-straight appearance competing in the event as she qualified for the indoor championships in Boston following a sixth-place finish at the Southeastern Conference indoor championships last weekend. "It goes without saying that she earned the right to compete with the best in the NCAA, as she is among the best," head coach Chris Woods said in Wednesday's press release. Cooper ran a season-best 8.11-second effort in the event, good enough for fifth-best time in the SEC and 14th-best time in the country. Her chance at winning a national title begins with the 60-meter hurdles semifinals at 7:50 Friday evening. "I know, without a shadow of doubt that Rosealee is looking to put an exclamation mark on her final indoor season as a Mississippi State Bulldog," Woods said. |
| Southern Miss baseball's Billy Butler calls out Mississippi State for celebrating like it won World Series | |
| Southern Miss baseball lost 5-4 to Mississippi State on Tuesday night in Pearl, but the game result isn't why fans on social media are still talking about it. Instead, it stems from postgame comments from Southern Miss outfielder Billy Butler, who called out Mississippi State players for showboating. Butler, a transfer from Rhode Island playing in his sixth season of college baseball, was asked by reporters about his first experience of the Southern Miss-Mississippi State rivalry. "This is one of the reasons why I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, enter the transfer portal and play some really good baseball," Butler said. "Coming to Southern Miss, I know there's a target on our backs and everyone wants to beat us. We saw them celebrating after the game. They're doing this, showing State and stuff. They think it's the World Series. You know how it is, they're getting beaten by mid-major teams all year." Butler then added another comment Wednesday afternoon on X, formerly known as Twitter, when he quoted a post from former Golden Eagle Dustin Dickerson saying, "HATTIESBURG VS EVERYBODY." The post was deleted an hour later. Mississippi State (9-4) rallied from a 4-0 deficit to take the lead in the seventh inning off a Dakota Jordan solo home run. |
| How Alabama moved from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer in 49 hours | |
| The text messages on Greg Byrne's cellphone were pouring in, more than 1,000 and counting. Like most around the college football world, Alabama's athletic director was still processing what had transpired about 2½ hours earlier that afternoon. Nick Saban had walked into the team meeting room at the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility and told his players he was retiring. After 17 seasons, 206 wins, nine SEC championships and six national titles at Alabama, one of the greatest coaching runs in American sports history was over. And Byrne was on the clock. He understood the enormity of what he was tasked with, the momentous challenge of hiring the replacement for a legend. "When you're approaching a historic transition like that, you think about when Coach [Bear] Bryant retired, when John Wooden retired, but it's also different now because of the transfer portal and NIL," Byrne said. "But from an impact on a university and the sport itself, it's as big a change as there has been in a long time." Saban spoke with his players for six minutes before leaving the room. Byrne then told the team he would have a new coach in place within 72 hours. "It ended up being 49. I thought I would beat the 72-hour window but wanted to give myself some padding," Byrne said. |
| Alabama AD Greg Byrne addresses Texas A&M rumors | |
 | Anyone worried athletics director Greg Byrne is going to leave Alabama for Texas A&M should be able to take a deep breath now. Byrne told Yea Alabama, the NIL entity for UA, that he "doesn't want to be the AD anywhere but Alabama," the report said. "Regina and I have felt genuinely supported by President Bell, our trustees, coaches, staff and fan base since the day we arrived seven years ago," Byrne told Yea Alabama. "We are excited about our future." Texas A&M is looking for a new athletics director with Ross Bjork headed to Ohio State. Byrne's father, Bill Byrne, was a longtime athletics director, and that included a stop at Texas A&M. The elder Byrne spent 2003-2012 with the Aggies. Greg Byrne has been with the Crimson Tide since 2017. He is fresh off the biggest hire of his career, having brought in the guy to replace Nick Saban. Byrne hired Kalen DeBoer for that role, and DeBoer started spring practice with his team this week. |
| 'The Kids Are Being Bombarded': What Colleges Need to Know About Sports Betting | |
 | Brian Krylowicz, director of Springfield College's counseling center, calls the Massachusetts institution a "sweatpants campus." He's referring to Springfield's sporty culture, buttressed by its reputation as the "birthplace of basketball" and by a student body that is 30 percent Division III athletes. "Our walls don't have ivy," he says. "Our walls have a basketball hoop." But in 2023, when mobile and in-person sports betting became legal in Massachusetts, Krylowicz could foresee how a passion for sports could have a dark side. That students could now legally wager large sums of money on their phones, outside of public view, alarmed him. He started meeting with student groups and asking about their relationships with sports betting. Many students said they didn't bet often enough for it to be a problem. But Krylowicz remains concerned. The booming industry has put colleges in a bind. On the one hand, advertising deals with sportsbooks can put millions of dollars in colleges' coffers, providing a boost to their athletics departments. On the other hand, cozying up to the gambling industry could come across as an endorsement of an addictive behavior -- one that experts say is increasingly taking hold among college students. As the annual ritual of March Madness --- and along with it, a likely surge in gambling --- nears, here's what colleges should know about sports betting. |
| Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Dartmouth basketball union: 'This will absolutely kill college sports' | |
| A day after the Dartmouth men's basketball team voted to form a union -- a historic moment in college sports -- former college football coach and current U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville shared his thoughts. Sitting for an interview on Fox News' "American Reports," the former Auburn and Ole Miss head coach did not hold back on how he thinks unionization would reshape college sports. The senior U.S. Senator from Alabama has reemerged as a figure in college sports in the last 18 months, working closely with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) on the "Protecting Athletes, Schools and Sports Act of 2023," nicknamed the "Pass Act," which was released this past July. "They're going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg -- all these athletes are -- because it pays for everything," the Senator said. "Scholarships are paid -- men and women -- but there's a lot of people that don't bring in money to universities. But what's going to happen here is you're going to see groups of people that's going to try to unionize and then it's going to spread across the country. We've been fighting it here. Joe Manchin and I did a NIL bill that was bipartisan, but it kept unionization out, but the Democrats wanted it in. That's the reason we haven't gotten it to the floor. But this will absolutely kill college sports. You know, the last time I looked, they're not employees. These students are student-athletes. And if you want the federal government involved and ruin something, you try to make the student-athletes employees. Soon the federal government will get involved, unions will get involved, and it will be a total disaster." |
| For 12th time, Capitol Hill to hold legislative hearing on college sports | |
| As college athletes vote to form unions and legal pressures continue to mount against the NCAA, college sports has another date on Capitol Hill. The subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce Committee scheduled a legislative hearing for March 12, titled "Safeguarding student-athletes from NLRB misclassification." The subcommittees on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions and Higher Education and Workforce Development will hold the hearing, scheduled for 10:15 a.m. ET. Unlike past hearings focused on enacting guidelines in name, image and likeness, next Tuesday's legislative hearing will be aimed at tackling labor rulings that could reshape the future of college sports. The last legislative hearing regarding college sports was held in January in the House Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce, titled "NIL Playbook: Proposal to Protect Student Athletes' Dealmaking Rights." NCAA president Charlie Baker testified along with three current athletes, including UCLA quarterback Chase Griffin. Arguably the most important news item of the day came after the hearing. Speaking to reporters, Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts said she didn't believe Congress would reach a consensus on granting employment exemption and antitrust to the NCAA. Time will tell if next Tuesday's hearing -- the 12th since 2020 -- will throw the NCAA a lifeline. |
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